Prior art refractory presses commonly include a rigid frame having a mold table supported by the frame for vertical movement. An example of a typical prior art refractory brick press is illustrated in the U.S. Dorsey Pat. Nos. 3,447,205, and 4,265,610. In such brick presses the mold table fixedly supports a mold box having a plurality of vertical mold cavities, and a lower plunger assembly is fixed to the frame and includes a plurality of plungers adapted to project upwardly into the mold cavities. Such presses also commonly include an upper plunger assembly including a plurality of downwardly extending plungers, and a ram is provided to cause downward movement of the upper plunger assembly so that refractory material in the mold cavities can be compressed between the upper and lower plungers.
Such prior art refractory presses also commonly include toggle press arrangements or friction press mechanisms for providing compressive movement of the plunger assemblies. Using these prior art structures and conventional techniques, bricks or other refractory products are made on a size control basis. More particularly, the press plungers are shimmed until a brick of the proper size is produced. If the brick is of the density required by the operator, the operator will assume that the pressure generated by the toggle press or friction press is satisfactory. It will be appreciated that consistency in the quality of bricks produced using the prior art apparatus requires the same quantity of fill be put into the mold cavity during each cycle of the press. If too little refractory material is added, then the resultant brick will not have the required density.